


Wrapped in Starlight

by Chromophilic_Daydream



Category: Persona 5
Genre: For the p5 wedding zine, M/M, proposal fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:50:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromophilic_Daydream/pseuds/Chromophilic_Daydream
Summary: Waves that crashed into the shoreline like a whisper he could barely make sense of—coaxing him closer into the darkness that could have easily swallowed him whole. In fact, looking at it now, it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the sea began... The only thing that served as a marker for him was the sliver of the pier that abruptly ended some distance away from the safety of the shore.That very pier seemed to be precisely where Ren was taking him.





	Wrapped in Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank every single person who has supported the Persona 5 Wedding Zine. Whether it be as an organizer, participant, a buyer, a retweeter, a friend— thank you. This project has been amazing and utterly exhausting but I'm so proud of every single person who has been involved. You all have made it incredibly worth it. Thank you again.
> 
> I'm grateful for this fandom and the people that are in it.
> 
> This has to be one of my most favorite pieces I have ever written for one of my most favorite couples.
> 
> Cheers!

In the light from the traffic, now far away from them, the long stretch of wooden pier seemed incredibly flat against the darkness of the night that swirled around them. They had gone some distance now away from the headlights and bustling streets, whose illumination grew dimmer with every sinking step into the soft sand beneath their footsteps. So far away—the sound of the ocean waves lazily lapping against the wet sand was drowning out every other noise he had grown accustomed to living in the city. Now there was just silence and crunching sand... and waves.

Waves that crashed into the shoreline like a whisper he could barely make sense of—coaxing him closer into the darkness that could have easily swallowed him whole. In fact, looking at it now, it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the sea began... The only thing that served as a marker for him was the sliver of the pier that abruptly ended some distance away from the safety of the shore.

That very pier seemed to be precisely where Ren was taking him. 

They had been visiting his hometown for a few days now since they both had time off and Goro had never been. It was far quieter than Tokyo but still a busy place. Goro had actually found that to his liking. It was different enough to not be Tokyo but still comfortingly familiar. 

This dock and the sea surrounding it, however, were a different story. He had never experienced such deafening isolation, and the unfamiliar smells and sounds that blotted out what was commonplace to him were making him a bit uneasy. The last time he was anywhere close to a sea… was several years ago on a rocking Ark that almost swallowed him whole.

"I used to swim here all the time when I was a kid." Ren's quiet, comforting voice interrupted his thoughts, breaking through his building anxieties as they climbed up a short flight of sandy steps. Goro was grateful for the small talk.

"Really? Why am I not surprised you'd do something so reckless, even back then?"

Even in the darkness fogging his vision he could see Ren smirk and scratch his cheek with shameless ease.

"I haven't changed that much, I guess."

There was a beat of silence that followed. Unlike the sea and its riddles that washed over the creaking wood beneath him, he understood what that silence meant.

They both had changed. It came from years and years of cooperation and respect. They had come to understand each other more—to care for each other and help nurture love between them. Against the impossible odds, Goro found someone he truly connected with. It took years of work from both of them, tearing themselves down and building their lives back up with each other to make it to this point. But with Ren, it all felt like it was worth it. He wouldn't have gone back and changed a single thing.

Goro hummed softly, looking out on the water and back to Ren. "Is this the part where you show some surprising resolve and go jump off the edge of the dock or something to impress me?"

The other man laughed and shook his head. "It's still too cold to swim in. Come on, I'm not that dumb."

"You say that, but I'm not sure I believe you."

"Come on, you trust me right?" He saw Ren's hand stretch out to him. He smiled and yielded to Ren, giving his hand a tight squeeze. 

"Just make sure to fish me out if I fall in." 

"Like I'd ever let that happen in the first place. Let's go. It's worth it, I promise." Looking out into the bleak night, it was still difficult to make sense of his surroundings... but with Ren it wasn't so bad.

Nothing was ever really that intimidating with Ren beside him. He gave Ren's hand a squeeze and they walked in silence down the dock.

Soon there really was no sound but the water knocking into the planks of their walkway and the echo of their footsteps as they ventured further and further away from the civilization behind them.

Goro was trying not to pay too much attention to the distance they walked or the lights fading to almost complete darkness when he saw it.

He finally saw what Ren wanted to show him.

Standing at the very edge of the dock with nothing but several planks of wood lying between him and the ocean, he finally looked up.

The lights of the city had nothing on the dazzling spectacle before them. The stars that hung above their heads appeared so boldly that Goro thought he could almost reach out and touch them. He had never seen them this vivid, never bothered to wonder what the cosmos would look like without so many obstacles standing in the way.

"Wow, I've never—" He murmured softly as if speaking too loudly would destroy the image in front of him.

"It's really hard to see anything in Tokyo. But out here is the best. I would sneak out here when I was younger and pretend I was some kind of space traveler, and this was some planet I was visiting."

Goro looked over at Ren, who stood out against the dark night like a beacon wrapped in starlight, and snickered behind his hand. "That would explain a bit. Well, I'm glad you stayed on Earth for a while."

Ren's gray eyes fell on his own and the hand still grasping his tightened its grip. "Me too. I suck at navigating. I don't know what any of these things mean." He motioned to the field of stars above them, and Goro chuckled again before realizing Ren was serious.

"Wait, really? Aren't you the guy who always went to the planetarium in high school?"

"Eh, it was a good place to take a nap. I don't remember any of that stuff." 

"You really are hopeless aren't you?" Ren was quiet after his playful jab and it made him tilt his head, trying to figure out why they weren't continuing their banter. Did he say something wrong? Or was space really just that captivating to his partner?

"So educate me then. What's that one?" Just as quickly as the awkward silence fell on them, it washed away with the turning tide of their conversation. Ren's once occupied hand pointed skyward and landed on a set of stars.

"Hm… Orion," Goro answered, craning his neck to see. He was sure he was right before he saw Ren's fingers drift down a little bit.

"And that one?"

"Scorpio? Perhaps?"

"Oh cool! What about that one?" 

"That’s Polaris."

"And this?" He watched Ren's hand disappear somewhere. He frowned and looked around for where he was pointing but didn't see anything. His attention turned back to Ren's face—only, Ren's face wasn't there anymore. For a split second, he was startled. He was so wrapped up in the sound of the water beneath him and the shimmering stars above him, he hadn't noticed Ren’s voice had grown softer, further away.

His gaze fell down to finally catch Ren's, his partner kneeling before him on one knee, the glimmer of a smooth metal banded ring in, what he now realized, a very shaky grip.

All at once the reality of the situation happening before him dawned on him. "R-Ren what—"

"Hey, let me say this before you go asking me questions..." The other man started out, his voice wavering despite his confident words. "Goro, we've been together for a long time now... and I know you. I _ know _you, and you know me better than anyone else. We've been through so much together that I look at you and I see my family. So I... want to be that okay? I want to be your family."

"You... already are." Goro blinked hard, letting those words sink into him rather than trying to brush them away. It was a reflex he still had trouble controlling. A learned behavior he had spent the last six years trying to undo. But here—now—with nothing but the ocean, the sky and them... there was nowhere he could run... and there was nowhere he wanted to run. There was nowhere in the world he'd rather be more than here... right now... with someone he cared about more than anyone else acknowledging him as family... as an equal.

He sunk down on the pier until he was eye level with Ren once more and reached out to steady that shaky hand with his own.

"Goro?" Ren whispered, his eyebrow quirked in confusion.

"Ask me already," he answered. He could barely keep his voice steady.

"Are you going to say yes?"

"If you ask me," Goro laughed softly, trying not to look directly at the ring that lay between them and just look at Ren—only Ren.

"Okay. Be my family forever? I need you in my life. We've already hit rock bottom, Goro. And we still made it through so… shit this… isn’t turning out how I wanted it.” He watched Ren nervously take a deep breath before whispering ”—Please marry me?" 

Those words deafened him, far greater than the roar of the sea—far greater than the shot of a pistol. With fumbling fingers, Ren took out the small band and Goro felt his heart swell in his chest with giddy joy and utter fear.

But with Ren... there was no real reason to be afraid, right? Not of the endless sea, or the never-ceasing skies. Not of his past nor his future... not of what he could do or what he had done...

With Ren all that mattered was what they had built together, what they had learned together. How they grew was more important than where they started, and Goro realized that fact the moment he uttered 'yes'; he and Ren completed each other in ways only they could. 

"Really?"

"Yes—Why would I ever say no?" He smiled, trying to blink the blur of tears out of his eyes. 

The smile that broke out on Ren's face filled him with more awe than the entire sea of stars hanging above them and the depths of the ocean beneath them. And when Ren's lips pressed against his own the rest of their quiet little world on the edge of that dock could have melted away and Akechi Goro would not have felt more at ease than he did at that moment.

And as they walked back towards the city, giddily laughing like schoolboys, Goro found his spirits soaring higher than the heavens themselves, a piece of a star wrapped around his finger and Ren's bright light guiding the way to a surely contented future.

  


**Author's Note:**

> my twitter is @chromiekins. If you want to see more incredible content created for this zine, you can find it at the twitter @p5weddingzine
> 
> Thank you


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